LOCAL GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19762, 8 October 1927, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOCAL GOSSIP.

BY MEUCDTIO.

A Collector of Customs ai any substantial port of entry is in for a merry time when tariff revisions are in view if certain legislation now before Parliament goes through Probably it will. Legislation has a way of doing that ttowadays, •whatever its merits. Anyway the Cus ioms Amendment—an involved document, as most of its kind are—aims at stopping the sporting game of ( clearmg goods from bond tn anticipation of a rise in duty After what happened to the whisky people lately, when bonded stores were drained practically dry, and the customs revenue substantially enriched in advance, with a good anti-climax in that no change was made in the duty, one might have thought the Government would encourage the sport But it proposes the exact op posite. The point involving the collec tor is that he is the man who decides whether the withdrawals are over the odds, and applies the brake It will call for some judgment—m the American sense of " some." Suppose the law bad ruied so recently, when m Dunedin there was a perfect rush to clear whisky It would have been the collector's job to decide whether the withdrawals were pro portionate to Dunedin's thirst, or in excess of it. In other words, he would have been required to estimate Dunedin's thirst. Is that a job to ask any man to do ? Certainly not Anyway the new device is clumsy. Goods in bond, where the duty is to be raised, could be protected so much more easily. Use rumour. Nothing spreads like a rumour, unless it be blackberry, or mumps in a primary schocL When the Government contemplates increasing the duty on whisky, let it start a rumour that castor oil is to be the target of the new impost The whisky people would remain placid while the importers of castor oil fever ishly removed every jorum from bond. When the tariff appeared, both would have been ■ fooled It would achieve the aim of the Customs Department much more artistically and save the collector » great deal of mental agony. Delighted at the passing 6f the Summer Time Bill, certain athletic folk propose to find a trophy for competitions, to be christened with the name of Mr. Sidey, who worked so long and enthusiastically in the cause of daylight saving So far, there is no suggestion that the dairy farmers intend having a " Sidey Cup," or anything of the kind, as the trophy for the best butter or the fruitiest cheese. The Prime Minister has made it known that his proposed Ministry of Transport will collect, collate and distribute all possible information relating to transport. At last the peopie who for months past have been telling a wholly apathetic public how the tramway, motor omnibus, and kindred problems could be sojved at a stroke will have a legitimate target for their bombardment. It will be a great relief, but, kind folk, spare the Ministry of Transport a; pitying thought in advance, please! The proper place of jazz music in radio programmes has been discussed for the benefit of listeners by an expert. His summing up seems to be that it is not so much the music itself as the way it is played that is the trouble. Many people had an idea there was something wrong somewhere. They will be glad to have the diagnosis. If everything is , finally put right, there will be no need to complain, as one radio enthusiast did recently, that jazz music mode it confoundedly hard to decide whether his valves were howling or not. A nice point was decided in the Arbitration Court the other day, whether a plumber, that aristocrat of tradesmen, carries his own tool-kit, or has an apprentice to carry it for him. Everybody knows that a plumber always goes away to fetch his tools after he has arrived on the job, or if everybody doesn't a great many comic Sapers have been published in vain. Mr. ustice Frazer has given a new glimpse into the lives of the great by his revelation of the further habits of the plumber. He is a man apart anyhow, following a calling even more rigidly protected than the learned professions. You can try to make a will whether you are a qualified lawyer or not, though you may not plead another's cause in court; you can try to heal, whether a registered medical practitioner or not, though you may not sign a death certificate; you can preach a sermon whether a recognised minister of religion or not, though you may not per form a legal marriage service: but you cannot plumb unless you are a licensed plumber, or unless you are prepared to stand the consequences if caught at the jck If an inspector catches ynu wen v ith a soldering iron in your hand be v .'I give you a nasty look, and ask awkward questions. This, though the ciaze for building radio sets has intro duced soldering irons into some of the verv best families 3: es, aU things considered, it is not strange that the plumber should refuse to carry his tool kit; the ■\vonder is he does not demand a motor car to carry him whithersoever he goes. A certain provincial school authority has asked the hunting people to hold their meets during the school holidays, because when the hunt is up the children stay away from school. Surely they could have got over the difficulty more easily. Why not declare a holiday on the day of the meet, another, the day before to prepare for it, and a third on the day succeeding, to allow the pupils to recover from the fatigue of attendance? Or, it might even be better to send a teacher with a roll book to the meet, and count fcopearance there as attendance at school. A little thought should produce some method of catering for the sporting instincts of the children wihout disturbing the arrangements for the hunt, iheie was a time, of course, when he master would simply line up his pupils beforehand, tell them that he knew trier* was a meet next day, and that any child absent from school without a verv good excuse would be made to feel sorrv for himself the dav after. But that ot course, was in the barbarous nays when there was no real appreciation of what education ought to be. when obedience stood hijjh among the principles instilled, and when discipline was not regarded as a relic of the ravage era No doubt the change to the present order is all .or the better. Probably it is well that the schoolmaster should realise that he is not fit to wield any real substantial authority, but at least the old system carrried' with it one lesson valuable all through life. You could, then, follow vour own inclinations, and stay away from school to enjoy yourself if you were prepared to stand the penalty. The old time pupil who learned that stolen pleasures must, be paid for learned something reallv worth while. ».The more modern child seems doomed to miss the lesson.